Principal Project Manager

The Service 

As part of the regeneration team, you will be involved in ambitious schemes such as our multi-million pound projects Tipner West and City Centre North, that will transform Portsmouth, drive growth, strengthen communities, celebrate the city's skills and heritage, and draw on new innovations and technology. 

Find out more about our specific projects by watching this short video  

Invest in Portsmouth on Vimeo or visiting: https://investportsmouth.co.uk/  

We are the Infrastructure Section, which forms part of the City Council's Regeneration Directorate. We focus on four core areas, which are coastal and drainage, highways design, highways maintenance and project management.  We work on a variety of civil engineering projects across the city of Portsmouth to support the realisation of the Council's Plan.  

We aim to produce exemplar work, through recordable and monitored processes, to a high standard, that others aspire towards.  

Why come and work in Portsmouth? 

Portsmouth is a great waterfront city and a vibrant place to live and work.  It is an island city with an “inner city” feel, a seaside location packed with attractions and events, and the advantage of fantastic countryside on its doorstep.  With a fast-growing university, high-tech industries and a vibrant cultural scene, Portsmouth is a modern city that looks to the future, but which is proud of its unique heritage as the home of the Royal Navy and historic dockyard.  With fast road and rail links to London, Brighton and major airports, and ferry links to Europe, it is the perfect place to live and work. 

Portsmouth City Council 

At Portsmouth City Council we’re all about developing our staff, because we want to build a bigger and better city but we need the best employees to do so. 

With a little over 207,000 residents and 7,000 businesses throughout this city, this unitary authority’s main goal is to ensure the best care and development of all those within the city. From customer service to multi-million pound projects, our residents are at the heart of everything we do.  

Your new role 

Your role will be to provide project management expertise, provide leadership and management of more junior members of staff and successfully deliver highways and other construction schemes from inception through to completion.   Schemes will range from small junction improvements through to multimillion pound major projects.  

You will be required to provide leadership and / or manage some of the construction and professional based framework contracts that the Council operates. 

What you'll need to succeed  

You will be educated to HND or degree standard in a relevant subject.   You will have an appropriate professional project management qualification (e.g. Prince 2 practitioner level) and membership of an appropriate professional body (e.g. APM) or demonstrated performance over a substantial period at this level. 

You will have the ability to manage major civil engineering projects from initiation through to successful completion with the ability to lead teams. You will have an excellent commercial awareness and proven success of working within strict budgetary controls, including the analysis and interpretation of financial information. 

You will also have good and relevant experience of working with stakeholders, contractors and agencies with excellent interpersonal, communication and written skills.  You will be able to deal effectively with members of staff at all levels and (at a non-technical level) with councillors and the general public. 

If you have good analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience of preparing reports and correspondence, using research and information gathering techniques. If you have the ability to prioritise your workload in order to manage your time effectively.  This includes being able to work on your own initiative and respond positively to workload pressures then we would love to hear from you. 

What you'll get in return 

We are a disability confident employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible and welcome applications from all areas of society.   

We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potential with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards: 

• A generous pension scheme 

• Up to 31 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays 

• Flexible / hybrid working  

• A range of retail discounts via our reward portal offering discounts at retailers including IKEA, Currys, Tesco 

• Free Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellbeing support 

• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships 

• Potential to purchase additional annual leave 

• Business travel support and initiatives, including bike loans 

Please check out the link here to view the benefits of working with us! 

https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/working-for-the-council/ 

What next 

We would love to meet you for an informal chat so you can get to know us before deciding to apply. If this is something you would be interested in then please email a copy of your short CV to Martin Lavers, Assistant Director of Infrastructure, email martin.lavers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk We will contact you to arrange a time to chat about the exciting plans we have and what you could potentially be involved with. 

We look forward to speaking with you soon! 

To make sure your application stands out from the rest, please download the Job Profile HERE to ensure your application matches the requirements of the role. 

When completing your application upload a supporting cover letter incorporating  the ‘Who is the Person’ points on the job profile giving examples of your experience and any transferrable skills. 

Should you require any support in completing the application please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk 

We will email applicants from time to time; please ensure you check e-mail folders as sometimes our e-mails may go into spam/junk folders.